Up until now this season has been kinda underwhelming. I liked all the episodes but with the exception of maybe the first none really stood out to me. After seeing the low rating for episode 4 I was hesitant but it ended up being a pleasant surprise. I thought maybe the same would happen with this episode but it ended up surpassing my expectations, becoming my favourite of the season so far, maybe even my favourite of the whole show.
I wish I could say that I don't understand the low rating but I do. While I'm sure there are many ratings left by people who have legitimate problems with the episode (and it's fine if you do, I'm not saying otherwise), a lot of it is definitely fuelled by homophobia. I've been on this website long enough to be able to recognise when a show/movie/episode that prominently features women, POC, members of the LGBTQ+ community etc. Has been unfairly targeted by review bombing. (Again, just to reiterate, I'm not saying that's where ALL the negative reviews are coming from, or that if you don't like this you're homophobic.)
Onto the episode itself, I loved it. It's rare to see teenage characters, particularly middle schoolers, handled with such care and attention in media. This reminded me a lot of Bo Burnham's Eighth Grade, with its spot on portrayal of teens. The characters in this episode feel like authentic teenagers, with the dialogue feeling like it was written by real teens. Too many teen shows feature ham-fisted dialogue that was very obviously written by an adult, so this was refreshing. This is all elevated by fantastic, naturalistic performances, particularly by the protagonist. Overall just a wonderful episode, and one of the only ones in this show I can really see myself coming back to multiple times.
